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God has the central role in transforming and leading you.

It starts with God’s investment. God has more invested in us than we can imagine. Scripture says that we were part of his plan before creation (Ephesians 1:4). Psalm 139 reminds us that God was intimately involved in our creation. Verse 13 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

But God continues to be intimately involved in our lives beyond our creation. Psalm 139 also tells us that God knows “when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down…Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely” (Psalm 139:2–4). David continues and writes, “Where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7) and concludes that wherever he goes, God is there.

God’s initiative is also plainly evident throughout Scripture. God not only initiated through creation, but he continued to initiate through his plan of redemption. John 3:16–17 is the best known summary of God’s initiative: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” His love led to his initiative.

Through the life, death and resurrection of Christ, God’s work has accomplished what we could not and cannot. The first chapter of Ephesians provides a great list of what God has already done for Christ-followers. He has blessed us in the heavenly realms; in love he predestined us for adoption, redeemed us, forgave us, lavished us with the riches of his grace, made known to us the mystery of his will, included us in Christ, and marked us with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. All this is God’s initiative, work and accomplishment.

At this point, we can conclude that God is for us. As Paul argues in Romans 8:31–32, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” God is on our side. His desire is for our good, and he is still actively engaged in that goal. The grace given through salvation is immediately met by grace for sanctification. We know that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

God’s grace, his provision and his sanctifying work through the ongoing activity of the Holy Spirit seeks to transform us “into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). As God seeks to form Christ in us (Galatians 4:19), we see more and more of his life expressed through us. The products of God’s transforming work include the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23) as well as spiritual intimacy, godly character, vibrant relationships and contribution through service.

As Cloud and Townsend write in How People Grow, “To grow, we need things that we do not have and cannot provide, and we need to have a source of those things who looks favorably upon us and who does things for us for our own good.”¹ God is that source, and he is at work for our own good. While individuals and community do have a key role to play, Cloud and Townsend note that “We do not grow because of ‘will power’ or ‘self-effort’ but because of God’s provision. God offers the help we need (that’s grace) and then we have to respond to that provision.”²